Rainbows Take Down San Jose State, Eye Series Sweep

SAN JOSE, Calif. (HawaiiNewsNow) - Zack Swasey hit his first home run of the season, Jarrett Arakawaretired 13 straight for the win, and the University of Hawai'i baseball team topped San Jose State 4-1 on Saturday afternoon at Municipal Stadium.

Arakawa (5-3) allowed one run in 7.2 innings of work for the Rainbows, who recorded 10 or more hits for the 11th time this season. UH improved to 23-15 overall and 4-1 in the Western Athletic Conference while SJSU dropped to 18-16 and 3-2 in league play.

After knocking on the door for four innings, the 'Bows broke through in the fifth inning as they had done in the opener, this time plating three runs to take their first lead of the game. Garrett Champion (1 H, 1 R) belted his third double in two games and scored on a wild pitch, and Podratz drove home two runs to give UH a 3-1 lead.

Matt Lopez had two hits to lead the Spartans and Michael Gerlach had a triple and scored in the second inning before UH reeled off four unanswered runs. With the win, the 'Bows secured their fifth straight series win over the Spartans.

Reliever Jason Kafka (1-1) was the pitcher of record for SJSU, allowing one earned run in two-thirds innings for the loss. Starter Esteban Guzman did not factor in the decision in 4.1 innings of work.

Hawai'i and San Jose State conclude their series on Sunday at 1:00 p.m. PT (10:00 a.m. HT).